Functions

Date and Time Functions

XPath date/time construction, extraction, formatting, and timezone handling

#Date and Time Functions

XPath has first-class date and time types. JSON represents dates only as strings. XPath lets you compare dates, extract components, add durations, and format values for display without parsing strings yourself.

For C# developers: XPath's date functions replace DateTime.Parse() and manual format strings. XPath works with typed date and time values directly, which gives the code a more structured approach.

#Contents

• Current Date and Time

• Component Extraction

• Timezone Operations

• Construction

• Formatting

#Current Date and Time

#current-date()

Returns today's date.

Signature: current-date() as xs:date

current-date()   => 2026-03-19
                                    

C# equivalent: DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")

Note: The returned date includes timezone information from the evaluation context. Within a single XPath evaluation, current-date() always returns the same value — it's captured once at the start, not each time the function is called.

#current-time()

Returns the current time.

Signature: current-time() as xs:time

current-time()   => 14:30:00-05:00
                                      

C# equivalent: DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("HH:mm:sszzz")

#current-dateTime()

Returns the current date and time.

Signature: current-dateTime() as xs:dateTime

current-dateTime()   => 2026-03-19T14:30:00-05:00
                                        

C# equivalent: DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz")

Important: Like current-date(), this value is stable within a single evaluation. If your XSLT processes 1000 documents, they all see the same timestamp.

#Component Extraction

These functions extract parts from date, time, and dateTime values. Each has variants for date, time, and dateTime inputs.

#year-from-date() / year-from-dateTime()

Signature: year-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

year-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))         => 2026
year-from-dateTime(current-dateTime())        => 2026
                                          

C# equivalent: date.Year

#month-from-date() / month-from-dateTime()

Signature: month-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

month-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))        => 3
                                            

C# equivalent: date.Month

#day-from-date() / day-from-dateTime()

Signature: day-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

day-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))          => 19
                                              

C# equivalent: date.Day

#hours-from-time() / hours-from-dateTime()

Signature: hours-from-time($value as xs:time?) as xs:integer?

hours-from-time(xs:time("14:30:00"))          => 14
                                                

C# equivalent: time.Hour

#minutes-from-time() / minutes-from-dateTime()

minutes-from-time(xs:time("14:30:00"))        => 30
                                                  

#seconds-from-time() / seconds-from-dateTime()

seconds-from-time(xs:time("14:30:45.5"))      => 45.5
                                                    

Note: Returns a xs:decimal, not an integer — it includes fractional seconds.

#Duration Component Extraction

For xs:duration, xs:yearMonthDuration, and xs:dayTimeDuration:

years-from-duration(xs:yearMonthDuration("P2Y3M"))   => 2
months-from-duration(xs:yearMonthDuration("P2Y3M"))  => 3
days-from-duration(xs:dayTimeDuration("P5DT3H"))     => 5
hours-from-duration(xs:dayTimeDuration("P5DT3H"))    => 3
                                                      

C# equivalent: timeSpan.Days, timeSpan.Hours, etc.

#Timezone Operations

#timezone-from-date() / timezone-from-dateTime() / timezone-from-time()

Extracts the timezone as a dayTimeDuration.

timezone-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19-05:00"))   => -PT5H
timezone-from-dateTime(current-dateTime())          => timezone of eval context
                                                        

C# equivalent: dateTimeOffset.Offset

#adjust-dateTime-to-timezone()

Adjusts a dateTime to a different timezone.

Signature: adjust-dateTime-to-timezone($value as xs:dateTime?, $timezone as xs:dayTimeDuration?) as xs:dateTime?

(: Convert from UTC to US Eastern :)
adjust-dateTime-to-timezone(
  xs:dateTime("2026-03-19T14:00:00Z"),
  xs:dayTimeDuration("-PT5H")
)
=> 2026-03-19T09:00:00-05:00
(: Strip timezone — make it "local" :)
adjust-dateTime-to-timezone(
  xs:dateTime("2026-03-19T14:00:00Z"),
  ()
)
=> 2026-03-19T14:00:00
                                                          

C# equivalent: dateTimeOffset.ToOffset(new TimeSpan(-5, 0, 0))

Variants: adjust-date-to-timezone(), adjust-time-to-timezone()

#Construction

#dateTime()

Constructs a xs:dateTime from separate date and time values.

Signature: dateTime($date as xs:date?, $time as xs:time?) as xs:dateTime?

dateTime(xs:date("2026-03-19"), xs:time("14:30:00"))
=> 2026-03-19T14:30:00
                                                            

C# equivalent: new DateTime(date.Year, date.Month, date.Day, time.Hour, time.Minute, time.Second)

#Formatting

#format-date()

Formats a date as a human-readable string using a picture string.

Signature: format-date($value as xs:date?, $picture as xs:string, $language as xs:string?, $calendar as xs:string?, $place as xs:string?) as xs:string?

format-date(current-date(), "[MNn] [D], [Y]")
=> "March 19, 2026"
format-date(current-date(), "[D01]/[M01]/[Y]")
=> "19/03/2026"
format-date(current-date(), "[FNn], [MNn] [D]")
=> "Thursday, March 19"
format-date(current-date(), "[Y]-[M01]-[D01]")
=> "2026-03-19"
                                                              

Picture string components:

C# equivalent: date.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy") — but XPath's picture strings use a different syntax from .NET format strings.

#format-dateTime()

Formats a dateTime value.

Signature: format-dateTime($value as xs:dateTime?, $picture as xs:string, ...) as xs:string?

format-dateTime(current-dateTime(), "[MNn] [D], [Y] at [h]:[m01] [PN]")
=> "March 19, 2026 at 2:30 PM"
format-dateTime(current-dateTime(), "[Y]-[M01]-[D01]T[H01]:[m01]:[s01]")
=> "2026-03-19T14:30:00"
                                                                

Additional components:

#format-time()

Formats a time value.

format-time(xs:time("14:30:00"), "[h]:[m01] [PN]")
=> "2:30 PM"
format-time(xs:time("09:05:30"), "[H01]:[m01]:[s01]")
=> "09:05:30"